Trump, Italy Prime Minister Meloni Talk EU, War in Ukraine: Full Q&A

President Trump and Italy Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni speak about ongoing trade negotiations with the EU, a minerals deal with Ukraine and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's future at the Fed in the Oval Office.

President Donald Trump said the US and Ukraine would sign a deal on critical minerals next Thursday, in a step expected to keep Kyiv in good favor as the White House seeks to broker a quick ceasefire deal with Russia.
“We have a minerals deal which I guess is going to be signed on Thursday,” Trump said while meeting with Italian Prime Minster Giorgia Meloni in the Oval Office. “And I assume they’re going to live up to the deal.”
The announcement puts the agreement — which fell through after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy clashed with Trump in the Oval Office — back on track, and suggests both sides have agreed to the contours of the accord governing postwar plans to exploit the country’s mineral deposits and rebuild its infrastructure.
The agreement comes as Trump has vacillated between blaming Moscow and Kyiv for failing to end the war that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor in 2022. Trump has demanded a joint US-Ukraine development deal as compensation for the weapons and other aid the US provided under his predecessor Joe Biden.
The partnership agreement would grant the US first claim on profits transferred into a special reconstruction investment fund that would be controlled by Washington. In negotiations, Kyiv has pressed for better terms and refused to recognize the past US aid as debt.
Following a round of negotiations in Washington, the Trump administration reduced its estimate for the assistance the US provided to Kyiv since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion from $300 billion to about $100 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. This bring it closer to Ukraine’s own estimate of more than $90 billion.
Trump backtracked from recent comments in which he said Zelenskiy was to blame for the war in Ukraine — while still lobbing criticism at the Ukrainian leader.
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